Atrean Anderson is a lifelong resident of Manchester. All her children and grandchildren have gone through the Meriwether School System. And on the day of the school’s most-awaited football game in more than a decade, she voiced the feelings of many in the small town of 4,000 located about 90 minutes southwest of Atlanta regarding the death of 17-year-old football player Brandon Smith.
“It was very, very devastating,” she said. “It took the joy away from the day.”
Smith, a sophomore reserve defensive end on the team, was found dead on Sunday night, just hours before Manchester was scheduled to play Bowdon for the Class A Division II championship at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“Manchester High School’s celebration of playing for the Georgia Class A Division II championship has unfortunately turned into something none of us could have fathomed,” superintendent Robert Griffin and Manchester principal Suzie Neal wrote in a statement.
Most Manchester fans in attendance at Monday’s championship game did not want to comment on the situation, saying they didn’t know the details. School employees were directed to not speak publicly about the situation.
Credit: Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason.Getz@ajc.com
The team honored Smith by wearing a No. 52 decal on their helmets and captains Javon Terry and Justus Favors carried Smith’s jersey to the pregame coin toss ceremony.
John Ryan has been a ballboy on the team for four seasons. He is in the sixth grade at Manchester Middle School and was saddened to hear of Smith’s death.
“He was a nice boy,” Ryan said. “He didn’t really talk to a whole bunch of people. He kept to himself. At my school people were all upset and confused and trying to figure out what happened.”
Manchester came up short on the field, falling to Bowdon 28-27. Afterwards coach Steven Holmes spoke about consoling his players, who lost a friend and a championship.
“Our kids right now are the most important thing,” Holmes said. “We’ve got 48 of them in there right now and they’re hurting. The big message to them is don’t every cry about results. It’s over. It matters. There’s people watching at home and they’re looking for us for strength tonight. We got to see what was on the inside of them tonight.”
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